According to TMZ, 87 year old Dick Van Dyke’s Jaguar erupted into flames while driving in LA. Fortunately, he was pulled from the fire by a passing good-Samaritan. While the legendary actor’s car is now crispy ash on the side of the 101 freeway, he managed to escape the bizarre car explosion without any injuries.

Events such as these remind us that tragedy can strike without a moment’s notice, and it is important to always be prepared!  If you were involved in an accident, who would have the authority to make decisions on your behalf? Who can access your medical records? Have you designated a guardian for your children? Have you designated someone to make financial decisions for you in the event that you cannot? These are all questions, that when answered, can protect your family and assets when tragedy strikes.

Create a shield against the flames of tragedy with the following documents:

1. Living Trust – used to gain control over the who, when, and what of how your assets are distributed. A trust is a great way to protect your assets & preclude unnecessary taxes. You can designate yourself as a Trustee, while designating trustworthy successor Trustee’s to manage the trust when you are no longer able to do so.
2. Assignment of Property – place all of your property into the trust, and avoid costs, loss of privacy, & headache associated with probate. Probate is the process of validating your will; therefore, when all of your assets are distributed through the trust, there is nothing within the will to validate. As an alternative, you can merely assign property to the trust that you specifically want to preclude from probate, for the purposes of privacy.
3. Last Will & Testament – used to distribute property to beneficiaries (or a trust), specify last wishes, and name guardians for minor children.
4. Durable Power of Attorney – In the event that you become incapacitated, this document designates someone to step into your shoes and make financial decisions on your behalf. That person can only make decisions for your benefit, and not their own.
5. Combination Living Will & Designation of Healthcare Surrogate – Create a living will that states whether you would want life-prolonging medical treatment. Furthermore, the designation of a healthcare surrogate ensures that someone you trust is making medical decisions for you when you cannot. Otherwise, State statute will determine who can make those decisions for you.

Take a lesson from Dick Van Dyke and don’t get swallowed in the flames of disaster – plan ahead!

It’s a Wild world. Are you protected?SM

For more information on successful Florida estate planning and asset protection techniques, please contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Partners, P.A. at 954-944-2855 to schedule your free consultation.

Same sex couples can now receive the fabulous feature of portability – and we are not just talking about Louis-Vuitton luggage!

Today, the Supreme Court gave DOMA [“Defense of Marriage Act”] the boot, holding that it’s definition of marriage (limited to a union between one man & one woman) violates the guarantee of equal protection provided by the Fifth Amendment. Keep in mind, this only applies on a Federal level, and States can still refuse to recognize same-sex marriages. Here in South Florida, same-sex marriage is not recognized on a State level. However, when it comes to estate planning, DOMA’s demise has many beneficial effects for same-sex couples in South Florida; especially when dealing with Federal taxes.

Let’s talk about portability in relation to taxes. Generally, an intra-spousal transfer is not subject to transfer taxes due to the marital deduction, and there is portability of the exemption amount. This means that when “Wife” transfers assets to “Husband,” those assets are not subject to any Federal transfer tax (gift or estate tax). Furthermore, each individual receives an estate tax exemption of $5,250,000. Lets just think of it as $5,250,000 worth of cash in a bag (luggage, if you will). What if Husband doesn’t use his entire exemption amount, as his gross estate is much smaller? Well, that’s where portability comes into play. All the cash in Husband’s luggage (that he never used) is wheeled on over to Wife. She now has her own luggage full of cash, as well as Husband’s luggage full of cash; giving her a pretty substantial protection from estate taxes. This way, Husband’s estate tax exemption is not wasted, as it transfers to the Wife.

Previously, same-sex married couples didn’t receive the benefit of portability, because they failed to fall into the spousal status of Federal law. Now, following the Supreme Court’s holding in United States v. Windsor, same-sex married couples receive the marital deduction, and have portability of their exemptions.

While this is certainly a great estate planning feature for same-sex couples, you don’t want to always rely on portability. Rather, you should plan for it, as there is a Wild array of estate planning techniques that will ensure your receive all of the benefits of the law.

For more information on successful Florida estate planning and asset protection, contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Partners, P.A. at 954-944-2855 or via email at mwild@wfplaw.com to schedule your free consultation.

It’s a Wild world. Are you protected?SM

Poor Miss Utah, Marissa Powell, is facing nothing but critics regarding her answer to the income inequality question posed on Sunday night’s Miss USA pageant. Miss Powell’s beauty failed to meet brains; rather, it met her social demise, as demonstrated by the answer to the following question:

“A recent report shows that in 40 percent of American families with children, women are the primary earners yet they continue to earn less than men. What does this say about society?”  Her answer of “we need to figure out how to make education better,” marked a painful downward spiral.

If there is a moral to this story, it is to plan ahead. Although Miss Utah’s question wasn’t exactly a curveball; life can catch us off guard with the difficult of situations. Prepare for life’s unexpected challenges in South Florida with an estate plan that answers some of the following questions (don’t worry, nothing on income inequality).

If you died today, or became incapacitated, would you have the following benefits?

• asset protection
• control over your assets
• protection for your loved ones
• preclusion of unnecessary taxes
• creditor protection
• limited/no transfer taxes for following generations

If the answer to any of these is “no,” you should consider seeking an estate planning attorney to assist you in planning ahead for any of life’s Wild, & unexpected challenges. This may include, but is not limited to the following documents:

1.  Living Trust – gain control, asset protection, & preclusion of unnecessary taxes by designating a trustworthy Trustee.
2. Assignment of Property – place all of your property into the trust, and avoid costs & headache associated with probate.
3. Last Will & Testament – used to distribute property to beneficiaries (or a trust), specify last wishes, and name guardians for minor children.
4. Durable Power of Attorney – gain control by designating someone to legally act on your behalf in the event that you become incapacitated.
5. Combination Living Will & Designation of Healthcare Surrogate – gain control by making important healthcare decisions in advance.

For more information on successful Florida estate planning and asset protection techniques, please contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Partners, P.A. at 954-944-2855 or via email at mwild@wfplaw.com to schedule your free consultation.

 It’s a Wild world. Are you protected? SM

Last week the Miami Dolphins were dealt a crippling blow when they were denied public money for a stadium upgrade.  Without a major rehab of the beloved stadium, South Florida’s chances of hosting the 50th Super Bowl in 2016 are greatly reduced.

Stephen Ross, the current 95% owner of the Miami Dolphins, sought both state and local help to pay for an estimated $400 million worth of renovations to Sun Life Stadium.  The team worries that the stadium, built in 1987, may become inoperable without the proper renovations within the next 5 to 10 years.   Florida’s Legislature didn’t see it that way, and adjourned after refused to allow a vote on this bill.  Rep. Carlos Trujillo, a Republican from Miami, simply stated, “It was a bad deal for taxpayers.”

If only the former owner of the Miami Dolphins, Joe Robbie, would have completed his estate plan before he died…

Joe Robbie is Florida’s greatest example of dealing with the consequences of not having a proper estate plan or business succession plan in place.   Joseph Robbie was the owner of the Miami Dolphins and founder of the Joe Robbie Stadium.  Upon his untimely death in 1990, his estate was valued at $100 million.  9 months after his death, he owed approximately $47 million in estate taxes.  The family was forced to sell the Dolphins and the stadium at a bargain-basement price, at just a fraction of the team’s real value.  In 1994, Financial Planning magazine reported, “the year’s biggest loser in the National Football League is the Robbie family, the former owner of the Miami Dolphins.”

The real tragedy is that it all could have been avoided had Robbie implemented a simple life insurance policy to pay the estate taxes.  Instead, the family was torn apart by the stress of the forced sale.  Just imagine the worth of Robbie’s 2 prized assets in today’s market place had he done some proper estate and business succession planning?

As great a businessman as Joe Robbie was, he missed a major league opportunity to provide for his family.  A proper game plan for succession of your business and the estate taxes that may be due upon your death, will allow you to leave a lasting legacy to preserve everything you worked so hard to achieve.

For more information on successful Florida estate planning and business succession planning,  please contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Partners, P.A. at 954-944-2855 to schedule your free consultation.

It’s a Wild world. Are you protected?

Not surprisingly, cemeteries in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts are not willing to accept the body of Boston Marathon bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev.  A lone uncle of Tsarnaev, along with his funeral director, plan to ask the city of Cambridge for a burial plot instead.  The uncle told reporters that Muslim tradition call for his nephew to be buried and he would like it to be in Cambridge as that was his home for the last 10 years.   On Sunday, several protesters gathered outside the funeral home holding signs and American flags chanting “USA!”  The signs contained messages urging Americans not to bury the bomber on US soil.

The dilemma is emotional and stressful for all involved.  Even when you remove the terrible events surrounding this burial, final ceremonies and funeral arrangements are taxing on any grieving family.  The best way to alleviate some of this stress at a painful time is to plan ahead.  Leaving behind written instructions for your survivors can prove a great relief both emotionally and financially.  Otherwise, Florida state law will dictate who will have the right to decide how to handle your remains.  Oftentimes this leads to disputes between your remaining family members.

Our team of successful Florida estate planning attorneys can help you memorialize your preferences including:

• burial verse cremation requests
• funeral services
• leaving pets behind
• creation of a Living Will to dictate whether you want your life artificially prolonged or if you prefer to be allowed to die naturally
• designating a Health Care Surrogate to make medical decisions on your behalf

And for those forward thinkers that already have an estate plan in place, it’s a good idea to review your plans annually to ensure they still reflect your wishes.

For more information on creating a set of written instructions upon your passing,  please contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Partners, P.A. at 954-944-2855 to schedule your free consultation.

It’s a Wild world. Are you protected?

President Barack Obama’s April 10 FY 2014 proposed budget contains a number of estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax proposals.  Starting in 2018, it is proposed that the tax scenario will revert back to 2009 rules in order to trim the $1.8 trillion deficit, namely by relying on taxing the estates of high-income earners.

If passed, the following parameters will be implemented:

• Gift tax rate of 45% (as opposed to the current 40%)
• $3.5 million estate tax exemption (as opposed to the current $5 million)
• $1 million gift  tax exemption

The provision would replace the current American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) that was created to permanently provide relief to the estates of hard working decedents.  The new provisions would be effective for the estates of individuals that pass away, and for transfers made, after December 31, 2017,

What does this mean for you?  This means that over time much smaller estates would be taxed at a much higher rate that may threaten the wealth you worked your whole lifetime to accrue.

With the unpredictable budget proposals affecting estates across Florida, it is crucial to schedule a routine review with a well-versed South Florida estate planning attorney.  For more information on successful Florida estate planning and effective asset protection tools, please contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Partners, P.A. at 954-944-2855 to schedule your free consultation.

Being properly informed is the best way to stay a few steps ahead of the shifting estate tax patterns.

It’s a Wild world. Are you protected?SM